Deke Bellavia

Deke: Practice #1 at Mini-Camp in the books!

by Deke Bellavia,posted Jun 5 2012 1:50PM

The New Orleans Saints took to the field this morning for their first of five scheduled practices for this year’s Mini-Camp. The Black and Gold worked for about two hours this morning at their facility on Airline Drive.

The highlights from this morning’s practice included Saints Safety Roman Harper making a nice play on the ball against Devery Henderson, followed by QB Chase Daniel completing a quick slant to WR Adrian Arrington.

Other notable plays that happened during the Saints team portion of practice that features the offense taking on the defense: Saints DE Will Smith applied nice pressure on Daniel, and new Saints LB Curtis Lofton picked off a pass in the morning session as well.

''It’s good to get back on the field,'' said Saints OT Zach Strief. ''The time we get on the field as a team is different now with the new rules so we have to take advantage of every snap we get out there.''

Saints LB’s Martez Wilson, David Hawthorne and Will Herring all got in the backfield putting pressure on Saints QB Sean Canfield. The Saints also brought in a new QB, veteran Luke McCown, to take some snaps.

Saints tight end Jimmy Graham has a real nice grab. Graham was in open space when Chase Daniel threw him a high ball that Graham leaped and brought down securely. Daniel then connected with TE David Thomas for a nice completion.

After practice Saints Assistant Head Coach Joe Vitt acknowledged a couple of guests that were in attendance at this mornings practice. Former Saints Wide Receivers Coach and now Tulane Head Coach Curtis ''C.J.'' Johnson was at practice, as well former Dallas Cowboys VP Gil Brandt.

“It was great to have those guys out here this morning,” said Saints Coach Joe Vitt.

Did you know? Did you know that the Saints have twenty players currently on their roster from small schools? WR’s Marques Colston (Hofstra), Joseph Morgan (Walsh) and Andy Tanner (Midwestern State.) Also in that number is CB Kamaal Mcllwain (Newberry,) S Joseph Gumbs (Monmouth,) and CB Nick Hixson from Hillsdale...just to name a few!

Today at 4, you can get our experts' take on today’s practice this afternoon on "SportsTalk," Bobby Hebert and Hokie Gajan will break down both of today’s practice sessions.

Plus, we'll break down the Eastern Conference Finals Game 5 between Boston and Miami...We'll take a look at the LSU Tigers opponent Stony Brook in this weekend’s Super Regional...And listeners will hear from Saints OT Zach Strief, former Desterhan great and current Saints Rookie Jericho Nelson and also Saints Rookie DT Akeem Hicks. That’s SportsTalk today from 4-8PM here on WWL Radio.